Museum of Minds

Ratification Debates · Theme Cluster

The Executive

Should the executive have energy — or does a powerful single president become a king?

USG.2.ER§59-29-155
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Hamilton believed an energetic executive was essential to good government — a single person accountable to the nation, able to act with decision in a crisis. Cato and the Anti-Federalists saw the same design as a monarch without a crown. The question of presidential power — its scope, its accountability, and its danger — was the most contested structural argument of ratification.

The Federalist Argument — Publius

No. 70 AP
Energy in the Executive
Hamilton's case for a unitary, energetic executive: decision, activity, secrecy, dispatch. The single man is accountable; committees are not.
No. 71
Executive Duration
On why a president needs a long enough term to develop the strength of character to resist faction.
No. 72
Re-eligibility
Hamilton argues that excluding a president from re-election removes an incentive for good conduct.
No. 69
The Real Character of the Executive
Hamilton compares the proposed president favorably to the British king — with far less power.

The Anti-Federalist Response

Cato
Letter IV — Single Executive
Cato warns the President will become an elective monarch — the trappings of power will corrupt even the virtuous.
Cato
Letter V — Executive Power Continued
Continuing the argument: the President's pardon power and command of the military make checks impossible.
Cato
Letter III — On the Presidency
On the influence and patronage a President will accumulate, undermining republican equality.
Ask About The Executive
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This is the cluster on The Executive. The central question: Should the executive have energy — or does a powerful single president become a king? Ask me anything about the Federalist or Anti-Federalist arguments on this theme.